The present disclosure relates to verification of digital data elements, and more specifically, to verifying the integrity of relationships between digital data elements.
Cryptographic functions and algorithms can be used to help protect sensitive data, such as personal information about an individual. A first type of cryptographic function is a symmetric-key algorithm. Symmetric-key algorithms use the same cryptographic key for both encryption and decryption. Both the sending and receiving party should maintain the secrecy of the key in order to prevent a third party from gaining access to the encrypted information.
A second type of cryptographic function is an asymmetric-key algorithm. Asymmetric key algorithms can be used in a variety of manners. In one instance, a first party can encrypt data using a first (private) key. A second party can then decrypt the data using a second (public) key. This can be useful for verifying the source of the data as only the owner of the private key can encrypt data that will be decrypted using the associated public key. Alternately, the second party could encrypt data using the public key and the first party can then decrypt the data using its private key. This can be helpful to ensure that only the owner of the private key can decrypt the data. The use of two different keys can be useful for a variety of different applications. In some instances, the first party can use the private key to create a digital signature. The second party can then use the public key and digital signature to verify that the contents of the data were sent by the first party and have not been modified.